Sort of a semi-detailed review of the Saturday night 4/26 Raleigh WSP show. Even though rain was in the forecast it was a beautiful night with no rain whatsoever. We stayed in the lot one beer too long and got caught in the crush going in and missed the “Lets get down to business” opener. Then we were in the beer line for “Machine” and most of “Traveling Light” but you can never go wrong with those two songs. We were finally settled for “Thin Air” and they were boogieing hard. We were in the 2nd row of section 6 right behind the luxury tables. Next was my first time hearing “Walk on the flood” and I think it has potential. It definitely rocked. Next was “Diner” you can never go wrong with that. Jimmy had some great leads and JB started to give us a little rap, but it was unintelligible and didn’t last long. “Rock” was killing. Big fat groove and JB really shined on the slide here. Actually one thing I noticed was that JB’s playing seems to have gotten stronger. He has always been a quirky guitarist who adds color more than rhythm sometimes much like Weir, but JB was loud and up front in the mix and he was really driving a lot of tunes, and when he would add those dashes of “color” it was sweet. I guess being around Jimmy has inspired him. “Help Me Somebody” I wasn’t too familiar with but it is a rollicking Jojo number and after a slow start they were really cooking on it. “Can’t find my way” was gorgeous. Up till this I thought the sound was a little muddy, but for this one and all of the 2nd set the sound was perfect where we were. Set 2 Holy MotherF’ingWSP- The 2nd set was the best set of music I have seen in some time. This blew away the last time I saw Ratdog, ABB, Mule or Phil. “Heroes”- How can you not love this song. It was my first one and I just wished it had lasted longer. “Impossible” stated heating things up and the jam afterwards was pretty close to outright Space. They were all stretching out during this segment and that got them ready to “Bust it Big” and they did. I have never been a fan of this tune, but tonight I understand why so many do like it. Jimmy was burning it up. I need to here the end jam of this one again. “Arleen was due in the rotation and it was badass. There was one segment after the second verse where the whole band just transcended to that level where you could easily forget what song they are playing and Jimmy and Schools were just soaring weaving around each other lines. Definitely one of my highlights of the night (along with “Heroes” and the next section). Next an attractive asian woman with a violin comes out between Jimmy and JB. She starts playing and interacting with Jimmy and it was a beautiful section that just floated around until JB starts up “Driving Song” . Ann Marie Calhoun is obviously familiar with WSP. She played “Driving” beautifully copping David Blackmon’s fiddle parts and she is a whole lot better looking than David too. During this was the one time tonight I thought Jimmy was overdoing it. During the little jazzy fast interlude part Jimmy was just ripping as fast as he could, and was playing a little ahead of the changes. It was fast as I have ever seen him go and that is saying a lot. I guess he was trying to step it up, because Ann Marie was killing it. After he settled down it was a great “Driving”. A week or two ago I saw the UTube of Ann Marie doing “Surprise Valley” in someone’s den with just an acoustic backing her. You should check it out if you haven’t seen it. Well thye start up “Surprise” and she just crushed the fast flowing part of the intro that poor Gmac never could get right. The whole song was spectacular. She was flying, soaring over this groovaliscious platform they built for her, and it looked like they were all having a blast. The crowd was loving it. They hit several huge peaks, and her and Jimmy even had some cool back and forth segments. The Heaven next was a treat. It was a chance to catch our breaths and JB sang it hearflet as always. This was especially sweet because one of my buddies who is not a big Panic head had come to the show and he is an old school “T Heads” fan. The “Driving “ resolution landed us back safe and sound after a thrilling 30 minute section.” Junior” and “All Time Low” then allowed us to leave the spacieness behind and rock the fuck out for a little while. For the encore we go “Expiration Day” which is another cool Vic Chesnutt song. Vic has a way with lyrics. From this we end with “Fishwater” with Ms. Calhoun coming out to give us one more thrill.

Great set of music. Probably the best sit in I have ever seen with Panic . They really are cooking right now. It looks like this whole tour has been ridiculously good. If they are coming your way soon don’t miss it. Who knows what”Suprises” are coming next.